Adobe enhances Acrobat.com

Adobe recently announced significant changes to Adobe.com, which includes online PDF creation, a word processor, online meeting tool and more. The new version is built on the Flash platform and provides tools for improved collaboration and file sharing and a new mobile tool that allows users to upload document images from a supported mobile phone and have them automatically stored as searchable PDF files in Acrobat.com. This means you can take a picture of a document and search the contents--a pretty neat feature for mobile users.

Rick Treitman, director of product management for Acrobat.com, says the company was aiming for flexibility with this release. "Acrobat.com is about taking advantage of the web's ability to connect people in new and powerful ways. Adobe's online tools give people the advantage of working  together from anywhere, and from virtually any device. This release of Acrobat.com is  another step in helping people collaborate and communicate with ease and flexibility."

The site uses an interesting free-fee hybrid model. You get a limited account for free that give you five PDF conversions total, three person web conferencing, unlimited file downloads, online office applications and forum-based support. From there, there two subscription levels, one at $14.99 and one at $39.99 per month. Treitman says that this type of subscription model is something that Adobe is hoping to do more of in the future.

As software becomes increasingly commoditized and cloud-based, it becomes harder for traditional vendors like Adobe to compete using the standard software delivery model. This type of subscription approach gives them a new way of generating revenue in a creative way that takes advantage of enterprise customers' growing desire to collaborate using web-based tools.

For more information:
- see the Adobe press release [1]

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